Main
Omar Yaxmehen Bello-Chavolla
Medical Doctor, specialist in Applied Statistics and PhD in Medicine, graduated summa cum laude from UNAM. I am an Associate Professor at the National Institute for Geriatrics in Mexico, I am also a Human Physiology and Statistics lecturer at the Faculty of Medicine at UNAM. My research recent work has focused on the development of machine learning approaches to improve personalized medicine in cardio-metabolic diseases, as well consistent data-driven evaluations of the impact of COVID-19 in Mexico and the assessment of metabolic aging through body composition analyses. For my research work, I have received the Dr. Jorge Rosenkranz award for Medical Research for the development of the METS-IR index to quantify peripheral insulin sensitivity and in 2019 the Mexico City government awarded me the Youth Merit Award in Environmental and Public Health.
Research Experience
Associate Professor
Bello-Chavolla Lab, Research Division
Instituto Nacional de Geriatria
Current - 2020
- Lab Coordinator
- Lines of research: 1) Data-driven phenotypes of Metabolic and functional aging. 2) Heterogeneity of metabolic diseases in Mexican and admixed populations. 3) Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning applied for the study of metabolic diseases.
Graduate Researcher
Metabolic Disease Research Unit
Instituto Nacional de Ciencias Médicas y Nutrición Salvador Zubirán
2019 - 2016
- PhD researcher in Metabolism and Applied Statistics
- Projects: Development of carido-metabolic surrogates for epidemiologic research
- 15 published articles, 3 book chapters.
Visiting PhD Student
Bordeaux, France
Institut de Santé Publique, D’epidémiologie et de Développement, Université de Bordeaux, France
2017 - 2017
- Visiting PhD work with the Three City Study
- Project: Development of a predictive model for dementia in type 2 diabetes
- Training in Applied Statistical Modeling using R
Education
PhD in Medicine
Mexico City, Mexico
Faculty Of Medicine - Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM)
2019 - 2017
- Graduated Summa Cum Laude
- Mentorship: Dr. Carlos A. Aguilar-Salinas
Specialist in Applied Statistics
Mexico City, Mexico
Institute for Research in Applied Mathematics and Systems - Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM)
2019 - 2018
- Graduated Summa Cum Laude
Medical Doctor
Mexico City, Mexico
Faculty Of Medicine - Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM)
2018 - 2011
- Graduated Summa Cum Laude
Areas of Expertise: R programming, Data management, Experimental design, Fixed and random effects models, Mediation analysis, Predictive modeling, Parametric and non-parametric Survival analysis. Supervised machine learning, Boosting, Neural Networks
Teaching Experience
I am a main lecturer of the graduate programs of the PhD in Medicine and Masters in Sociomedical Sciences degrees at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM). I also teach undergraduate Physiology as part of the General Medicine CUrriculum at the Faculty of Medicine at UNAM.
Statistics Lecturer
Mexico City, Mexico
PhD in Medicine and Masters in Sociomedical Sciences, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México
Current - 2020
- Topics: Multivariate Statistics, Introduction to Statistical Modeling
Physiology Lecturer
Mexico City, Mexico
Department of Physiology, Faculty of Medicine, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México
Current - 2018
- Topics: Human Physiology
Research Awards
SNI 1
CONACyT
Mexico City, Mexico
2020
- Recognized as National Researcher Level I (SNI 1) by the National Researcher System of the Mexican National Council for Science and Technology
Interstellar Initiative Award
New York Academy of Sciences
New York, USA
2020
- Selected as participant in the Interstellar Initiative 2020-2021 Workshop by the New York Academy of Sciences and the Japan Agency for Medical Research and Development
Lindau Nobel Laureates Meeting
Lindau Nobel Laureates Fundatio
Lindau. Germany
2020
- Selected as representative of the Mexican National Academy of Sciences to participate in the 70th Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting to be conducted in Lindau, Germany during July 2021.
Best Scientific Paper published during 2018
National Institutes for Health
Mexico City, Mexico
2019
- Best original Scientific Paper published during 2018 from the National Institutes of Health in Mexico, awarded by the National Health Ministry.
Mexico City Youth Award 2019
Mexico City Government
Mexico City, Mexico
2019
- Mexico City Youth Award 2019 in the “Public Health and Environment” category for the development of metabolic risk prediction tools specific for Mexican population.
Dr. Jorge Rosenkranz Award for Clinical Research
Mexical Healthcare Foundation
Mexico City, Mexico
2018
- Dr. Jorge Rosenkranz 2018 Medical Research Award in Clinical Research for the work “METS-IR, a novel score to evaluate insulin sensitivity, is predictive of visceral adiposity and incident type 2 diabetes” awarded by the Mexican Healthcare Foundation
Innovations
Mechanistic Score for COVID-19 lethality (MSL-COVID-19)
Predictive model
N/A
2020
- Models developed to assess risk of mortality and severe COVID-19 using particularities of cardio-metabolic comorbidities in Mexicans. These tools were employed within the clinical triage facility of the Instituto Nacional de Ciencias Médicas y Nutrición Salvador Zubirán in Mexico City.
- Published on doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0244051
- Link: https://uiem.shinyapps.io/nutri_cov/
Metabolic Score for Visceral Fat (METS-VF)
Clinical Marker
N/A
2019
- I developed an equation that combines METS-IR with age and the waist to height index to estimate visceral adiposity, as well as metabolic risk for type 2 diabetes mellitus and incident systemic arterial hypertension. It is specific for Mexican and Latin American population.
- Published on: doi:10.1016/j.clnu.2019.07.012
Deep Learning for classification of data-driven Diabetes subtypes (Clusters SNNN)
Classification algorithm
N/A
2019
- Development of a model using self-normalizing neural networks to optimize the pathophysiological classification in diabetes.
- Published on doi: 10.1136/bmjdrc-2020-001550
- Link: https://uiem.shinyapps.io/diabetes_clusters_app/
Metabolic Sore for Insulin Resistance
Clinical Marker
N/A
2018
- I developed a tool for evaluation of insulin sensitivity and prediction of incident type 2 diabetes mellitus, specific for use in the Mexican and Latin American population.
- Published on doi:10.1530/eje-17-0883
- Link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metabolic_Score_for_Insulin_Resistance
Selected Publications
Consult my complete research work at: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3093-937X. Citations can be tracked at: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=kS_jiQ8AAAAJ&hl=es&authuser=1
Pushing the boundaries of precision nutrition to tackle Alzheimer’s disease: is there a role for DHA?.
The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition
N/A
2021
- Fernandez-Chirino L, Antonio-Villa NE, Bello-Chavolla OY.
- https://doi.org/10.1093/ajcn/nqab085
Adaptive metabolic and inflammatory responses identified using accelerated aging metrics are linked to adverse outcomes in severe SARS-CoV-2 infection.
The Journals of Gerontology. Series A, Biological sciences and medical sciences
N/A
2021
- Márquez-Salinas A, Fermín-Martínez CA, Antonio-Villa NE, Vargas-Vázquez A, C Guerra E, Campos-Muñoz A, Zavala-Romero L, Mehta R, Bahena-López JP, Ortiz-Brizuela E, González-Lara MF, Roman-Montes CM, Martinez-Guerra BA, Ponce de Leon A, Sifuentes-Osornio J, Gutiérrez-Robledo LM, Aguilar-Salinas CA, Bello-Chavolla OY.
- https://doi.org/10.1093/gerona/glab078
Validation and repurposing of the MSL-COVID-19 score for prediction of severe COVID-19 using simple clinical predictors in a triage setting: The Nutri-CoV score.
PLoS One
N/A
2021
- Bello-Chavolla OY, Antonio-Villa NE, Ortiz-Brizuela E, Vargas-Vázquez A, González-Lara MF, de Leon AP, Sifuentes-Osornio J, Aguilar-Salinas CA.
- https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0244051
Profiling cases with non-respiratory symptoms and asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infections in Mexico City.
Clinical infectious Diseases
N/A
2020
- Bello-Chavolla OY, Antonio-Villa NE, Vargas-Vázquez A, Fermín-Martínez CA, Márquez-Salinas A, Bahena-López JP.
- https://doi.org/10.1093/cid/ciaa1288
Clinical characterization of data-driven diabetes subgroups in Mexicans using a reproducible machine learning approach.
BMJ open diabetes research & care
N/A
2020
- Bello-Chavolla OY, Bahena-López JP, Vargas-Vázquez A, Antonio-Villa NE, Márquez-Salinas A, Fermín-Martínez CA, Rojas R, Mehta R, Cruz-Bautista I, Hernández-Jiménez S, García-Ulloa AC, Almeda-Valdes P, Aguilar-Salinas CA; Metabolic Syndrome Study Group; Group of Study CAIPaDi.
- https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjdrc-2020-001550
Unequal impact of structural health determinants and comorbidity on COVID-19 severity and lethality in older Mexican adults: Considerations beyond chronological aging.
The journals of gerontology. Series A, Biological sciences and medical sciences
N/A
2020
- Bello-Chavolla OY, González-Díaz A, Antonio-Villa NE, Fermín-Martínez CA, Márquez-Salinas A, Vargas-Vázquez A, Bahena-López JP, García-Peña C, Aguilar-Salinas CA, Gutiérrez-Robledo LM.
- https://doi.org/10.1093/gerona/glaa163
Predicting Mortality Due to SARS-CoV-2: A Mechanistic Score Relating Obesity and Diabetes to COVID-19 Outcomes in Mexico
The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism
N/A
2020
- Bello-Chavolla OY, Bahena-López JP, Antonio-Villa NE, Vargas-Vázquez A, González-Díaz A, Márquez-Salinas A, Fermín-Martínez CA, Naveja JJ, Aguilar-Salinas CA.
- https://doi.org/10.1210/clinem/dgaa346
Metabolic Score for Visceral Fat (METS-VF), a novel estimator of intra-abdominal fat content and cardio-metabolic health.
Clinical Nutrition
N/A
2019
- Bello-Chavolla OY, Antonio-Villa NE, Vargas-Vázquez A, Viveros-Ruiz T, Almeda-Valdes P, Gomez-Velasco D, Mehta R, Elias-López D, Cruz-Bautista I, Roldán-Valadez E, Martagón AJ, Aguilar-Salinas CA.
- https://doi.org/10.1016/j.clnu.2019.07.012
Pathophysiological mechanisms linking type 2 diabetes and dementia: Review of evidence from clinical, translational and epidemiological research.
Current Diabetes Reviews
N/A
2019
- Bello-Chavolla OY, Antonio-Villa NE, Vargas-Vázquez A, Ávila-Funes JA, Aguilar-Salinas CA.
- https://doi.org/10.2174/1573399815666190129155654
METS-IR, a novel score to evaluate insulin sensitivity, is predictive of visceral adiposity and incident type 2 diabetes
European Journal of Endocrinology
N/A
2018
- Bello-Chavolla OY, Almeda-Valdes P, Gomez-Velasco D, Viveros-Ruiz T, Cruz-Bautista I, Romo-Romo A, Sánchez-Lázaro D, Meza-Oviedo D, Vargas-Vázquez A, Campos OA, Sevilla-González MDR, Martagón AJ, Hernández LM, Mehta R, Caballeros-Barragán CR, Aguilar-Salinas CA.
- https://doi.org/10.1530/eje-17-0883
Editorial Work
PLoS One
Associate Editor
N/A
Current - 2021
- Associate Editor in the section of General Medicine
BMC Endocrine Disorders
Associate Editor
N/A
Current - 2020
- Associate Editor in the section Epidemiology of Endocrine Disorders
Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience
Topic Editor
N/A
Current - 2021
- Topic Editor: Modifiable RIsk Factors of Accelerated Brain Aging and DementiaT
Journal of the American Society of Nephrology
Editorial Felow
N/A
2022 - 2020
- Member of the 2020-2022 class of Editorial Fellows
Professional Associations
New York Academy of Sciences
Member
N/A
2021
Endocrine Society
Early Career Member
N/A
2021
American Society of Nephrology
Early Career Member
N/A
2021
European Society of Endocrinology
Early Career Member
N/A
2021